Knex Circle Ball Machine

Introduction: Knex Circle Ball Machine

Well, here is a small ball machine, with a twist - No lift!

What?! No lift? How the heck does that work?

Well, it works like this. The track is a smooth flat circle, sitting on the base. The base has four "Arms" that stick out, and at the end of each one is a mechanism that makes a rod go up and down. These uppy-downy rods connect to the circular track and cause it to ossilate in such a way that the ball rolls around in a circle. Watch the video to make sense of it all.

Step 2: Track

This is the track. Whoopee!

1: Make the... track. It has 48 Yellow connectors on the inside and 48 on the outside. The inner track is solid, but the outside is not connected. Its made of yellows + Green rods. See the following two photos to see what I mean.2: ---3: ---4: Make this5: Make four of these. 6: Make four of these too7: Put the first four on like so8: And the other four on like so9: Put the track in like so. Its connected to the frame every 6th piece.10: Close up of what the connections look like.

:-D

Step 3: Base Arms

These are the arms that go out from the base. Make them. NOW!

1: Make these two bits2: Put it together3: Make these parts4: Make this. Be sure you get all the spacers in the right spots5: Close up of one end6: Close up of the other end7: Build this8: Make this too9: Put thems together10: Add that axle thing. Presto!11: Close up of the end12: Put that one bit on top13: Add the yellow rod/hinge connection14: Close up15: Add on the rest of the frame like so16: Make four! Leave out one yellow rod on top of one of them. See note.

Three cheers for you.

Step 4: Base Center

This is the little bit where all the gear awesomeness happens.

1: Make these these three bits and get the spacers ready2: Put the geared rod through the motor hole, and the other two as seen. Put spacers on.3: Other side4: Make this guy 5: Another side6: And another view7: Make four! (ouch!)8: Build this9: Make This gear assembley from this and the next two photos10: ---11: ---12: Make this13: Build these four corners14: Build these three15: Build this

No, this is not the last step. Keep going.

Step 5: Assembley

This is the little bit where all the gear awesomeness happens.

1: Put one of the corner pieces on it2: Add one of the other pieces and put on another corner3: Same again...4: And once more5: Add that center bit 6: Add in a gear bit into all four openings7: What it should look like now8: Add the yellow gears with the teeth facing down9: Put that piece on top now.10: Add motor thingy on like so. Sorry I didt't get any better shots of the connection.

Booyah!

Step 6: Allignment

Alignment? What the heck?

Well, the way it works out, the gears dont exactly line up at the moment. Its hard to explain. Just do as I say.

1: Turn on your motor untill one of the shafts is like so2: Take your next shaft. Lightly, lift the yellow gears up so that you can turn the one shaft while the others stay stationary. Make it so that it is 90 degrees farther in rotation than the previous shaft.3: It will look like this then4: The next one will be like this, and the last one will be pointing down. You may want to double-check that they are all alligned.

That was confusing, hopefully you did it right, though. Your all done now!

Step 7: Done!

Horay! You are now able to waste away hours of your life staring at a ball rolling in a circle.